Earlier in May, Prince Albert’s Executive Committee endorsed a proposal to join Health Canada’s National Wastewater Drug Surveillance program following debate over its potential benefits and drawbacks. During Tuesday’s meeting, Community Safety and Well-Being Coordinator Jim Woodcock recommended that the city sign a memorandum of understanding with Health Canada to participate in the initiative. The proposal will now move to city council for final consideration.
According to Woodcock, the program is aimed to test wastewater for the presence of approximately 550 chemicals linked to illicit substance use and production. In addition, he told the committee that Health Canada testing would be qualitative, and would determine whether a specific substance is present, but not its quantity in the sample. Woodcock also said the proposed Health Canada program would complement Prince Albert’s participation in Statistics Canada’s Canadian Wastewater Survey by screening for a broader range of substances, while the existing program provides more detailed data on a smaller number of drugs.
“If we were to join this other program, it would give us kind of a depth on specific substances of concern, as well as kind of a breadth on a wide array of substances,” he said in a press release. Coun. Darren Solomon questioned the benefits of joining the program, prompting Woodcock to explain that it could help monitor substances linked to drug use, production and emerging trends in the local drug supply. He said the data could also identify dangerous combinations, such as opioids mixed with benzodiazepines or other tranquilizers. In addition, Woodcock noted that wastewater results could help assess the impact of law enforcement actions by showing whether certain substances decline or disappear following police interventions.
Moreover, Coun. Bryce Laewetz questioned the program’s usefulness and cost, but city officials said it would help identify substances present in the community with minimal additional work or expense. Public Works Director Jeff Da Silva said the program would involve minimal additional work and no significant cost, as wastewater sampling is already conducted daily at the treatment plant.
Councillors debated concerns over public access to local wastewater data, with officials clarifying that Health Canada would only publish provincial-level results while the city would control its own data. Coun. Daniel Brown argued the program offered limited value and moved to reject the recommendation, citing delays in receiving results. His motion failed, and the committee voted to advance the proposal to city council for final consideration.
